A valve is a mechanism that plays an essential role in a system. It restricts, stops or sometimes starts fluid flow into the system. One such handy and highly demanded valve is the Butterfly Valve.

It is a quarter-turn valve used to control the flow. The metal disc on the valve’s body is placed perpendicular to the flow in the closed area and rotates a quarter turn to coincide with the flow in the fully open position. The central rotation allows for the control of fluid flow. They are often used for agricultural and water treatment applications or for treating contaminated water. They are among one of the most common and well-known valve types. There are four major components of these valves that make them highly efficient: body, stem, seat, and disk.

Keep on reading to have complete knowledge about Butterfly Valves!

Butterfly Valves: Operation, Advantages & Applications

Butterfly valves can be operated manually, electrically, or by air pressure. Manually operated valves work very fast. Electronic valves require a signal in the gearbox to turn on or off, and manually operated valves can be single or double-activated. On the other hand, the air pressure-induced Butterfly Valve is reliable and sturdy. Reduced weathering improves the life of the valves, which reduces operating costs otherwise lost in operating hours to maintain valves.

They are similar to ball valves but have many other advantages over them. For starters, these are also small, and opening and closing is very quick. They are very accurate, making them profitable in industrial operation, and are very reliable, requiring little or no care. Other advantages of installing butterfly valves are the following:

1. Fast and Easy to open: 90° rotation of the handle provides complete closure or valve opening. They are usually fitted with a gearbox, in which the handwheel with gears is attached to the stem. It makes the valve easier to operate and at a faster rate.
2.  Relatively inexpensive to build: They require less material because of their structure—the most economical type of wafer that fits between two pipe flanges. Moreover, one more wafer is held between two flange pipes with bolts connecting two flanges and passing through the holes of the outer valve. 
3. Require less space: This is due to their compact design, which requires very little space compared to other valves.
4. Do not require heavy maintenance: Their reliability and reduced maintenance requirements make them popular. Their reduced wear level allows for the longer functional period of the valves. This reduces direct operating costs and reduces hours of required valve repair time.

They can be used in a variety of applications. These valves perform well in large volume fluid applications and slurry applications. The following are some typical Butterfly valve systems applications such as;

• Cooling water, air, gasses, fire protection and so on,
• Vacuum service,
• Water with high pressure and high temperature with steam, and,
• Compressed Air or Gas Applications.

Conclusion

Valves play a significant role in the functioning of the machine, such as stopping and starting a fluid flow, halting the fluid or letting it pass, controlling the flow and pressure of the fluid, and so much more. Hence, it is imperative to know which valve works best in the system. The different types available must be chosen as per the requirement to ensure precise and easy functioning.